


oh, whoa!

by octie



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Fluff, Gen, Kid Fic, M/M, Single Parent AU, a happy fic, meet cute, they have children and it's all very lovely
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-25
Updated: 2020-01-25
Packaged: 2021-02-26 03:20:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,346
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21906619
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/octie/pseuds/octie
Summary: Jaemin is having what one (read: him) would call a terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad day. But he meets someone that everyone (read: not just him) would instantly recognise as an angel, and maybe there is light at the end of the tunnel. And maybe Jaemin's being a little bit dramatic but who cares about that? Not Jeno.
Relationships: Na Jaemin/Lee Jeno
Comments: 17
Kudos: 163
Collections: DreamXmas 2019, Other Ships





	oh, whoa!

**Author's Note:**

  * For [xies](https://archiveofourown.org/users/xies/gifts).



> im Grossly ill but have monetarily emerged from my sick (death) bed to upload this,,, thank u robin and cony for being the Greatest mods in the World as well as some of my best friends,,, the both of u have done incredibly well with this fest and im super excited to read everyone's works! such a lovely exchange,,, thank u for putting up with me,,, mwah mwah mwah
> 
> coincidentally this is for cony (my second fic dedicated to cony? nice!),, i love and adore u,,, i was so excited when i got u as my prompter baby and i had lots of fun writing this tiny fic,, i hope u have fun reading it! uwu

“Hey,” a voice says carefully. “Are you alright?”

Jaemin looks up, using the cuff of his sleeve to scrub the tear tracks from his eyes because—wow, the man the voice belonged to was attractive. And Jaemin’s ugly crying face was not. “Yes, sorry. I’m good.”

“Feel free to tell me to go away,” the man continues, sitting on the very edge of the bench, leaving a large gap between himself and Jaemin. “But you don’t really look it. Can I help you in anyway?”

“No really,” Jaemin shakes his head, “It’s just one of those days.”

The man hesitates. “I heard—I heard what that couple said to you.”

“Oh god,” Jaemin ducks his head

“No, no,” the man waves his hands frantically. “I’m not—I don’t agree at all. They were cruel and really out of order. They know nothing about what’s going on in your life, or anything about your parenting skills. I wanted to apologise, that that happened to you.”

“Oh.” Jaemin’s a little bit dumbstruck. The man’s hot and nice? A scam, surely. “Uh—thank you?” He has a point though, because the couple had been cruel and had known nothing about Jaemin and Haneul’s lives—absolutely nothing. That didn’t stop it hurting when the man had scathingly told him how his parenting abilities sucked. And then the woman with him had told him that Haneul wouldn’t have run away with him without a reason—that Jaemin must not been treating him right.

And it was ugly and stupid to listen to complete strangers, but those words had been hard to ignore. It had been a long, long day—his train was late, he’d left his laptop charger at home, several meetings had overrun and a client hadn’t even turned up for another and then, Haneul had been in a miserable mood when Jaemin picked him up from nursery and refused to carry his bag or put his coat on.

They always went to the park before going home on Fridays, the one day of the week that Jaemin finished work early but Haneul had still been sulking—a woman at the Nursery had told him he’d gotten into trouble for not sharing shortly before Jaemin had picked him up—and ran off ahead, Jaemin having to lunge after him.

And then of course some strangers had decided to offer their two cents. And normally it would be something Jaemin could brush off, but the day had already been a long one and, after making sure Haneul was safe playing in the child’s playground, Jaemin was slightly ashamed to say he’d sat on a bench and cried.

And then got interrupted by a hot man. Who’d apparently heard everything.

“That was a really bad way to say things.” The man sighs. “I didn’t—I don’t mean to sound preachy. But I thought well, my thoughts don’t mean a lot, but I thought you might want to know that that couple was speaking actual rubbish.”

“That’s a lot of thoughts,” Jaemin jokes. Winces slightly at how choked up his voice still sounds.

“Probably the most thoughts I’ve ever had,” the man says brightly, holding out his hand. “I’m Jeno Lee.”

“Jaemin,” Jaemin says, taking Jeno’s hand. It’s mostly smooth, his fingertips are calloused. A nice hand. “No, thank you for this. I—uh, it really has been a day.”

Jeno winces sympathetically. “I feel that."

Conversation flows easily between them, they have a lot in common. Jaemin runs a dance studio, Jeno teaches gymnastics at a local high school. Jaemin dropped out of university, Jeno finished two years ago after having a four-year hiatus halfway through his degree. They both spent their teenage years swimming competitively. Jeno likes to travel, Jaemin does too. They both like the same music—IU, Usher, Lana Del Ray. Jeno used to want to be a patisserie chef, Jaemin's childhood dream was to go to culinary school. 

Between talking to Jeno and keeping one eye on Haneul—him being fully engrossed in balancing pebbles on the fence around the children’s playground—Jaemin exists in a bubble, not realising how much time is passing.

It’s broken when, a tiny girl runs out of nowhere (or, the tunnel at the bottom of the slide) and jumps at Jeno.

“Appa!” She squeals, all flailing limbs and long, dark hair, lunging at Jeno and scrambling onto his lap, hugging her arms around his neck. Jeno remains unphased, humming with happiness as he lifts her onto his shoulders. “Appa!”

“This is Vivi,” Jeno introduces. She really is tiny, and her eyes smile just like Jeno’s do. “My daughter. Vivi, this is Jaemin.”

“Oh,” Jaemin responds intelligently, the similarities between Jeno and Vivi making sense in that stupid obvious way where if Jaemin had spared a second-long thought for them he would have probably been able to draw that conclusion himself. But this is Jaemin Na, stressed and stupid and completely unable to notice even the most obvious things the universe presents him with. “Nice.”

“Nice,” Jeno echoes but he looks amused by Jaemin’s sudden lack of fluent English. “Yes, it is very nice. Normally I work weekdays, so she spends them with her father—”

“—Baba!” Vivi interrupts, delightedly. Jaemin’s heart flutters a little.

“Your Baba, yes. But luckily, I’m on Christmas holidays so I get to spend more time with her.”

“Nice,” Jaemin repeats, shaking his head to wake himself from his stupor of dumbness. “No that is really nice. I’m happy for the both of you.”

“Are you with Haneul for the holiday?” Jeno asks, apt in carry on a conversation when, after a few pauses, it becomes blatant Jaemin isn’t. Somewhere, Donghyuck is laughing at Jaemin and the absolute fool he’s making of himself. Jaemin’s not laughing. Jaemin’s dying.

“I—yes. His mother and I both are.” Wait no, that makes it sound like Jaemin and Elle are still together. “But not together. Like. Separately. Though we are in the same house? But we are—not living in the same house though.”

Jeno nods slowly, grinning. “You might have to reexplain that to me. I’m not sure I followed?”

Jaemin can feel himself blushing— he is blushing! Donghyuck is rolling on the floor in hysterics. Jaemin wants to melt into the ground. He’s never this flustered in front of handsome men. Handsome men who also happen to be very nice and understanding and have adorable daughters and who smile with their whole face and—maybe Jaemin had an issue. A slight issue.

“His mother and I were never together. Uh, we don’t live together either, but she is staying with us for a few days though, to see Haneul properly. I didn’t explain that very well.”

“You explained it fine,” Jeno smiles, comforting. Oh god, his smile. Maybe the slight issue Jaemin has, has very quickly turned to complete infatuation. Never mind this being the second time Jaemin’s ever met Jeno. “That’s so lovely for Haneul. And for his mother too?”

“Yes.” Jaemin nods. “Hopefully. They don’t spend a lot of time together—though that’s on Elle completely. Having a child wasn’t something either of us ever planned.”

“I think you’re very brave,” Jeno continues to be maybe the nicest human in the world. Or, one of them. “Raising Haneul on your own but still trying to do all this for him. I know we’ve only just met today but I can see how much you love him and—it’s really nice to see. I hope I can be as good of a dad as you.”

“I—” Jaemin shakes his head, gobsmacked. “You met me crying because some woman called me a bad father. Haneul was running away from me.”

“Parenthood is hard.” Jeno says, helping Vivi scramble down from his shoulders. Both of them watch her run to the sandpit. “You’re doing the best you can. You cry because you care.”

Jaemin laughs but it’s more of a sob. Something ugly. He needs to blow his nose too. Wow, sexy. He’s really doing a good job of impressing Jeno. “Sorry you did not sign up to be my therapist.”

Jeno shrugs and he makes it look elegant. “That’s okay. I’m really not on par with anything a therapist could do. Most of what I’m telling you is regurgitated conversations my friends have given me. Renjun, Vivi’s father, was the one who told me you cry because you care.”

“You’re close with him?” Jaemin wipes his nose carefully on a crumbled tissue from the depths of his pocket. Rather disgusting. “Tell me to shut up if I’m overstepping.”

“You’re not at all,” Jeno reassures. “No, yes. I’m very close with him. My first love.” He turns slightly, gauges Jaemin’s reaction. Jaemin tries to school his facial features into something encouraging. Whatever Jeno sees seems to reassure him because he continues. “It’s a bit—well, some people might say stupid. But I don’t think that you have one love for the whole of your life. And I think—it’s perfectly okay to have different loves at different times. I’m not in love with Renjun anymore, and he’s not in love with me, but that doesn’t mean we’re no longer close.”

“I don’t think it’s stupid,” Jaemin replies, stuffing his gross tissue back in his pocket and straightening, desperately trying to look earnest. “I think that’s something really admirable and, well. I don’t think I’ve ever been in love so I can’t say if we share the same views. But it sounds like a nice view to have.” The admission is as loud as it could possibly be in the context, words exchanged between two men on a park bench, watching their children run around after each other on a tiny climbing frame.

“It is,” Jeno smiles. “It really is.”

Jaemin smiles back, completely unable to control his cheek muscles. He’s not too fussed about it. Jeno makes him want to smile—makes him smile. Jaemin hopes for vice versa.

“I hope we can stay in contact,” Jeno continues. “I—I don’t want to overshoot. But well, maybe you could find out about my view of love.”

“Jeno Lee!” Jaemin shouts, delighted. “Oh, you are smooth.”

Jeno shakes his head, ears flushed red. He’s ridiculously cute even when embarrassed. “I’m never this smooth. I cannot believe I just said that.”

“I liked it,” Jaemin offers. “And I’d really like if we could stay in contact. Do you know what? Give me your phone.” Jeno does, and Jaemin adds his contact and praises the heavens that he’s had the same mobile number since he was about seventeen. Anything to do with numbers and remembering them is not his forte. “There, I sent myself a text, so I have your number too.”

“Nice,” Jeno says teasingly. He laughs as Jaemin huffs and nudges their shoulders together. It feels a little like they’ve known each other for months, not hours. It is nice. It’s very nice.

“We could go and get tea?” Jaemin offers. “When Vivi and Haneul have finished playing? At a café, my treat.”

Jeno smiles, eyes crinkling gorgeously. Jaemin falls a little bit in love. “I’d like that. I think we both would. Vivi’s recently learnt what hot chocolate is—she’s unstoppable.”

“Haneul doesn’t like hot drinks,” Jaemin says. “Or milkshakes, or juice, or anything of the sort. He’s maybe the pickiest eater I’ve ever known.”

“Kids, huh,” Jeno stretches his hands out in front of him, crackling his knuckles. Jaemin flinches because, hello, that sound is gross and Jeno grins in amusement. Every time Jeno smiles—and he smiles a lot, whether at the fault of Jaemin or not, —Jaemin’s heart swells a tiny bit more. It’s infatuation, sure, but it feels like it could very easily become something else. “But I can’t imagine anything else.”

“Neither can I,” Jaemin says softly. Watches Haneul, trying to swing from the monkey bars while Vivi prances around his ankles in awe, shouting encouragements. Haneul is trying not to boast, Jaemin notices, but showing off’s always been his favourite thing. Definitely your child, Donghyuck would say. Both of you, fire signs to the extreme.

It’s nice though, even if Donghyuck disguises his compliment as an insult, it’s nice being similar to your child. Even if he’s a pain and the hardest thing you’ve ever done with your life—he’s also the best.

“Haneul!” Jaemin calls. The four-year-old jumps down from the bars—a huge distance of three inches—and runs up to Jaemin.

“Daddy, I am busy do you know?”

“Sorry,” Jaemin soothes. “I just needed to ask you something important.”

Haneul preens slightly. He enjoys being consulted on everything, especially if Jaemin calls it important. “Yes?”

“Once we’ve finished playing here do you want to go with Vivi and Jeno to a café?”

“Jeno?” Haneul repeats suspiciously, squinting at the man in question. Jeno smiles and waves in response. Haneul looks slightly mollified, turning his head to look at Vivi—who’s decided that with no Haneul to cheer on, the next best course of play is to crouch in the sandpit, using her hair to trace patterns. “I like Vivi.”

“So, do I,” Jaemin smiles. “And I like Jeno too—and so does Vivi.”

“Of course, she does,” Haneul huffs. “Jeno is Vivi’s Appa. Did you not know that?” He lowers his voice a little. “They have the same eyes.”

Jaemin squirms a little because of course his four-year-old noticed that when Jaemin didn’t. “I know,” he reassures (he’s not above telling white lies to protect his dignity). “So, would you like to have lunch with them?”

Haneul pokes his tongue against his cheek—every child’s universal thinking pose. “Yes please.”

“A date then?” Jaemin asks, as Haneul darts off to join Vivi. The younger’s standing up in the sandpit now, taking tiny handfuls of sand and putting them on the grass, outside of the sandpit. Haneul shows great joy in joining in, and he smiles as he watches them, turning to face Jeno.

Jeno’s already looking at him, beaming. “It’s a date.”

**Author's Note:**

> the title is from cobra starship's the world has it's shine,,,, i hate myself for it but also i had to do it,,,,,, 
> 
> obviously the synopsis quote ~ the terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad day ~ is from Judith Viorst's book of the same name. I like to think that jaemin collects children's novel's quotes just like he collects jeno's smiles. 
> 
> can u tell i adore children? i adore children! please leave your thoughts n comments! uwu


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